MILAN (Reuters) – Atlantia <ATL.MI> will give about 1,000 euros ($1,080) of shares to each of the 12,000 workers employed by the group’s Italian companies, the motorway and airport operator said on Friday.
The 75-share grant will be deposited in a securities escrow account for a period of three years, at the end of which the employee will have full title to the shares. Shares in the group were worth 13.89 euros at Friday’s close.
The move is aimed at strengthening the link between the group and its Italian workforce as the country struggles to emerge from the coronavirus crisis, Atlantia said.
The scheme will be submitted for approval by shareholders at a meeting to be held on May 29.
The group also said that its chairman and its CEO would cut their fixed pay for 2020 by 25% between May and the end of the year.
The money saved will be contributed to a fundraising appeal launched by the group’s management, it said, adding that part of the cash raised will go to a fund created by the city of Genoa for poor families. The rest will go to initiatives to support families of the group’s employees in Italy.
Atlantia will not launch any short or long-term management incentive plans this year, it added.
Last year Atlantia came in for criticism over bonuses paid to its top executives despite the collapse of a motorway bridge it operated in Genoa in August 2018, which killed 43 people.
(Reporting by Francesca Landini; Editing by David Goodman)
